System and method for determining retail-business-rule coefficients from current prices

ABSTRACT

Business rules can govern a single price or they can define relationships between different products involving two or more decision prices. One problem that retailers can face is that business rules are generally not codified and are rarely followed consistently, and thus it can be difficult to articulate existing business rules or generate new business rules. However, existing price information inherently contains industry knowledge and experience, even if retailers find it difficult to express that knowledge. The disclosed technology generates business rules by reverse engineering rule bounds and coefficients from existing price information. The reverse engineered rule bounds and coefficients can be used in price optimization to generate recommended prices for retail products that optimize revenue and profit while complying with a set of business rules.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 61/852,656, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMININGRETAIL-BUSINESS-RULE COEFFICIENTS FROM CURRENT PRICES”, filed Mar. 19,2013, and which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to generating recommended prices, andmore specifically pertains to generating business rules for priceoptimization, and more specifically pertains to reverse engineeringbusiness rules from existing prices.

BACKGROUND

There has been a steady evolution in retail science towards solutionswith more sensitivity to business reality. Early mathematical solutionsin price optimization made retailers more revenue and profit but oftengenerated solutions that failed to take into consideration businessrules. For example, in most retail settings the double-sized box shouldbe more than the single-size box, but not quite twice as much. Somenewer price optimization techniques involve performing business rulecompliance, but compliance can only occur for known business rules.Unfortunately, one problem that retailers can face is that businessrules are generally not codified and are rarely followed consistently,and thus it can be difficult to articulate existing business rules orgenerate new business rules.

SUMMARY

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forthin the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosedprinciples. The features and advantages of the disclosure can berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and otherfeatures of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, or can be learned by thepractice of the principles set forth herein.

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readablestorage media for generating business rules. Using model parameters andother inputs, prices can be optimized within each product network tomaximize revenue, profit, or a combination of revenue and profit. Theresult is a set of recommended prices in which one or more products canbe assigned a price different than an original price of the product.Such an approach can produce an ideal set of prices that maximizerevenue and/or profit while complying with a set of business rules.

The business rules can govern a single price, such as minimum or maximumprice change, margin, locked prices, competitive prices, ending numbers,and multiples. The business rules can also define relationships betweendifferent products and therefore involve two or more decision prices,such as size, brand, product line, and promotion. One problem thatretailers can face is that business rules are generally not codified andare rarely followed consistently, and thus it can be difficult toarticulate existing business rules or generate new business rules.However, existing price information inherently contains industryknowledge and experience, even if retailers find it difficult to expressthat knowledge. The presently disclosed technique for generatingbusiness rules can leverage this fact to address the difficulty ofarticulating business rules by reverse engineering business rule boundsand coefficients from existing price information.

The presently disclosed business rule reverse engineering technique isparticularly useful for two categories of business rules: bounded rulesand comparative rules. The first category of business rules, boundedbusiness rules, provide constraints on a single decision price. Theconstraints can be one-sided (i.e., a lower bound or an upper bound) ortwo-sided (i.e., upper and lower bounds). There are three special casesof bounded business rules: competitive, margin, and step size, whileother bounded rules are general cases of price range and target price.The second category of business rules, comparative business rules,provide constraints connecting two decision prices within a productnetwork. There are three categories of comparative business rules:measured, named, and Boolean.

In general, the present business rule reverse engineering techniquegenerates price bounds for bounded business rules and rule parametersfor comparative business rules based on existing price information for aset of products. The price bounds can include an upper bound value, alower bound value, and target value, where the calculation performed todetermine the bounds depends on the type of bounded business rule.Likewise, the calculation performed to determine the rule parametersdepends on the type of comparative business rule. After generating theprice bounds and the rule parameters, the generated price bounds and/orrule parameters can be used as an input to a price generation method togenerate recommended prices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the principles briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principlesherein are described and explained with additional specificity anddetail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate exemplary system embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary method embodiment for retail priceoptimization;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method embodiment for generatingbusiness rules through reverse engineering;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method embodiment for reverseengineering bounded business rules; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method embodiment for reverseengineering comparative business rules.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

The present disclosure addresses the need in the art for a technique forautomatically generating business rules for use in price optimization.Using the present technology it is possible to reverse engineer businessrules for use in price optimization from existing retail priceinformation including prices set by retail managers, costs, competitiveprices, reference prices, and product attributes. The disclosure firstsets forth a discussion of a basic general purpose system or computingdevice in FIGS. 1A and 1B that can be employed to practice the conceptsdisclosed herein before turning to a discussion of relevant terms and amore detailed description of the improved technique for generatingrecommended prices.

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B illustrate exemplary possible system embodiments.The more appropriate embodiment will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art when practicing the present technology. Persons ofordinary skill in the art will also readily appreciate that other systemembodiments are possible.

FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional system bus computing systemarchitecture 100 wherein the components of the system are in electricalcommunication with each other using a bus 105. Exemplary system 100includes a processing unit (CPU or processor) 110 and a system bus 105that couples various system components including the system memory 115,such as read only memory (ROM) 120 and random access memory (RAM) 125,to the processor 110. The system 100 can include a cache of high-speedmemory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated aspart of the processor 110. The system 100 can copy data from the memory115 and/or the storage device 130 to the cache 112 for quick access bythe processor 110. In this way, the cache can provide a performanceboost that avoids processor 110 delays while waiting for data. These andother modules can control or be configured to control the processor 110to perform various actions. Other system memory 115 may be available foruse as well. The memory 115 can include multiple different types ofmemory with different performance characteristics. The processor 110 caninclude any general purpose processor and a hardware module or softwaremodule, such as module 1 132, module 2 134, and module 3 136 stored instorage device 130, configured to control the processor 110 as well as aspecial-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporatedinto the actual processor design. The processor 110 may essentially be acompletely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores orprocessors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processormay be symmetric or asymmetric.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an inputdevice 145 can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An outputdevice 135 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanismsknown to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodalsystems can enable a user to provide multiple types of input tocommunicate with the computing device 100. The communications interface140 can generally govern and manage the user input and system output.There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardwarearrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily besubstituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they aredeveloped.

Storage device 130 is a non-volatile memory and can be a hard disk orother types of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges,random access memories (RAMs) 125, read only memory (ROM) 120, andhybrids thereof.

The storage device 130 can include software modules 132, 134, 136 forcontrolling the processor 110. Other hardware or software modules arecontemplated. The storage device 130 can be connected to the system bus105. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particularfunction can include the software component stored in acomputer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardwarecomponents, such as the processor 110, bus 105, display 135, and soforth, to carry out the function.

FIG. 1B illustrates a computer system 150 having a chipset architecturethat can be used in executing the described method and generating anddisplaying a graphical user interface (GUI). Computer system 150 is anexample of computer hardware, software, and firmware that can be used toimplement the disclosed technology. System 150 can include a processor155, representative of any number of physically and/or logicallydistinct resources capable of executing software, firmware, and hardwareconfigured to perform identified computations. Processor 155 cancommunicate with a chipset 160 that can control input to and output fromprocessor 155. In this example, chipset 160 outputs information tooutput 165, such as a display, and can read and write information tostorage device 170, which can include magnetic media, and solid statemedia, for example. Chipset 160 can also read data from and write datato RAM 175. A bridge 180 for interfacing with a variety of userinterface components 185 can be provided for interfacing with chipset160. Such user interface components 185 can include a keyboard, amicrophone, touch detection and processing circuitry, a pointing device,such as a mouse, and so on. In general, inputs to system 150 can comefrom any of a variety of sources, machine generated and/or humangenerated.

Chipset 160 can also interface with one or more communication interfaces190 that can have different physical interfaces. Such communicationinterfaces can include interfaces for wired and wireless local areanetworks, for broadband wireless networks, as well as personal areanetworks. Some applications of the methods for generating, displaying,and using the GUI disclosed herein can include receiving ordereddatasets over the physical interface or be generated by the machineitself by processor 155 analyzing data stored in storage 170 or 175.Further, the machine can receive inputs from a user via user interfacecomponents 185 and execute appropriate functions, such as browsingfunctions by interpreting these inputs using processor 155.

It can be appreciated that exemplary systems 100 and 150 can have morethan one processor 110 or be part of a group or cluster of computingdevices networked together to provide greater processing capability.

Having disclosed some components of a computing system, the disclosurenow turns to a brief description of terms relevant to retail science.

Product: distinct products are items on retail shelves or onlineperceived as different by shoppers. The products can be grouped intodifferent types of groupings. The process of identifying price familiesand product networks is called product linking.

Price Families: products can be grouped into price families. Each pricefamily can have products that share similar shopper response to pricechange and require identical prices. For example, six-ounce (6 oz.)containers of Dannon™ Yogurt in various flavors, such as, plain,vanilla, strawberry and strawberry-banana, would be in one price familysince they share similar shopper demand and are priced the same.

Product Networks: price families can be grouped into product networks.Each product network can have price families that are linked together byat least one comparative business rule. For, example, Coke™ products ofdifferent sizes, Pepsi™ products of different sizes, and store-brandsoda products of different sizes can be linked together by one or morecomparative rules. For example, a twelve-ounce (12 oz.) can of Coke™ anda twelve-ounce (12 oz.) can of Pepsi™ may be the same price and each maybe twenty percent (20%) more expensive than a twelve-ounce (12 oz.) canof the store brand cola soda. Similarly, a sixteen-ounce (16 oz.)container of Coke™ may be ten percent (10%) more expensive than atwelve-ounce (12 oz.) can of Coke™. In another example, a sixteen-ounce(16 oz.) container of Pepsi™ may be thirty percent (30%) more expensivethan a twelve ounce (12 oz.) of the store brand cola soda.

Store Grouping: stores are different places to shop. An online retailenvironment can be considered to be one store. The process ofidentifying markets, zones, locations, and areas is called storelinking. Markets can be a collection of stores with common shoppers,typically defined geographically, but can be defined demographically.Zones can be collections of markets defined by retailers for one or morereasons. Locations can be collections of one or more stores defined bythe granularity of available sales data. Areas can be collections of oneor more locations defined by the granularity of price decisions. Whileretail-science can have areas as disjoint collections of locations, anarea for a product can be different for two different promotions. Forexample, a first soda retailer can have city-by-city pricing for theirsodas and a second soda retailer can have statewide pricing.

Customer Types: communities of shoppers identified in a pricingenvironment. For example, a product might be offered at a discount for agroup of people, such as club members, people over a specific age andstudents.

Sales Types: can be different types of selling promotions which caninclude no promotions, signage, products at the end of an aisle(“endcaps”), discount and buy some, get some free.

Decision Prices: individual price decisions can be based on pricefamily, area, customer type and sales type.

Decision Price Sets: decision prices can be grouped into decision pricesets based on one or more comparative business rules, such as size orbrand.

Bounded Business Rules: can be ranges imposed on individual decisionprices. Examples can include competitive prices (price of a productbased on competitor's price), margin requirements (no less than costplus a set percentage of the price), price-change amounts (no changemore than a set percentage or amount or no change less than a setpercentage or amount) and locked decision price (price cannot changefrom its current price). Retailers can also have bounded business ruleswith lower bounds based on competition and upper bounds based on margin.

Comparative Business Rules: can be relationships between two decisionprices. For example, a size rule where the price for one product havinga first size can have a fixed rate higher than the same product having asecond size, such as a twenty ounce (20 oz.) bag of chips can cost 1.6times higher than a ten ounce (10 oz.) bag of chips. In another example,a brand rule where one brand of a product can have a fixed rate higherthan a second brand of the same product, such as the price for anational brand soda can be 1.3 times higher than a store brand soda can.Decision prices can be bounded by two comparative business rules, suchas brand and size.

Maximum Price Change: price changes for a product can only be changed bya certain percentage or amount from the current price, such as themanufactured recommended price.

Minimum Price Change: price changes for a product can only be changed bya certain percentage or amount from the current price, such as themanufactured recommended price.

Margin: the price for a product required to earn a minimum margin.Margin can be profit divided by revenue or price minus cost divided byprice.

Locked Price: a price that cannot be changed.

Competitive Pricing: a price of a same or similar product offered byanother retailer can be a factor in setting a price for the product. Forexample, a retailer may require a price of a product be lower than asame product sold by a competing retailer. In another example, aretailer may require a price of a product be within a percentage of theprice offered by a competing retailer, e.g. five percent lower so thatthe price is lower, but not too low.

Size: two products that are the same, but different sizes, can have aprice relationship. Typically, the larger sized product is moreexpensive than the smaller sized product, but is less expensive on aunit basis. For example, a twenty ounce (20 oz.) container for a firstproduct would have a fixed price relationship with a ten ounce (10 oz.)container for the first product, such as 1.5 or 1.8 times moreexpensive.

Brand: two products that are similar but different brands can have aprice relationship. Typically, one brand is considered superior to theother and there is a range of price ratios based on shopper perception.For example, a brand name cereal would be between 1.3 and 1.6 times asexpensive as the store-brand version. When different brand products aredifferent sizes, the constraint can be considered a brand constraint andthe ratios combine in the least-restrictive way. For example, a twentyounce (20 oz.) box a name brand cereal should be between (1.3×1.5) and(1.8×1.6) as expensive as a ten ounce (10 oz.) box of the store-brandversion.

Product Line: two products that are the same brand, but different inanother way, can have a price relationship. Typically, the same companyor brand can offer different products under the same name/brand with afixed price relationship. For example, a dairy company can offer atwenty ounce (20 oz.) container of ice cream to have a fixed pricerelationship with a twenty ounce (20 oz.) container of frozen yogurt,such as 1.2 or 1.3 times more expensive.

Cannibalization (Substitution): occurs when the sales of a first productdetract from the sales of a second product. For example, when Coke™ goeson sale, its increased sales decrease the sales of Pepsi™.

Affinity (Halo Affect): occurs when the sales of one product enhance thesales of another product. For example, when the sales of hot dogs leadto increased sales of buns, relish, charcoal, etc.

Promotion: products on sale, or offered to specific customer groups,must be offered at a lower price compared to the recommended price. Forexample, the lower price can be for ten percent (10%) off or buy one getone free (BOGO).

Ending Numbers: product prices can be required to end in appropriatevalues. Typically, prices end with a nine (9) as the last digit in theprice, such as “79” or “99.” In one or more cases, the last two digitsof the price can indicate the status of the product. For example, aproduct that ends in “99” can be for products that are always sold bythe store, a product that ends in “89” can be for products that areseasonal, and a product that ends in “79” can be for products that willno longer be carried once they are sold out.

Multiples: products that come in multiples can have different pricingrules than single-item prices that end with a “9” for the last digit forthe price. For example, when multiples of a product are offered, theprice can end with two zeros (“00”), such as three (3) for three dollars($3.00) or five (5) for five dollars ($5.00).

Number of Price Changes: a global rule for an assignment of decisionprices may involve a limit on the number or percentage of prices thatcan change. For example, no more than twenty percent (20%) of the pricescan change from current to recommended prices.

Global Margin: a global rule for the entire collection of decisionprices can be expected global margin, which is that total profit (priceminus cost) divided by total price should be above a specified value.

Revenue-Profit Weight: defines a business preference for profit overrevenue. A value of zero for the revenue-profit weight means a retaileris aiming for maximum revenue in price assignment. A value of one forthe revenue-profit weight means a retailer is aiming for maximum profitin price assignment. A value w between the zero and one means a retaileris aiming to maximize (1−w)R+wP, where R is revenue and P is profit.

Sales History Data: each entry in the sales history can specify aproduct or price family, a location, a customer type, a sales type, atime period, and/or numerical data such as price, costs, and/or unitssold. Time periods can typically be in weeks with date ranges. Due tothe nature of point of sales (POS) systems, the sales history typicallydoes not contain zero sales information. It only contains data when apositive quantity is sold. Sales history can be for one or moregroupings of products, all products offered for sale, or a subset of theproducts offered for sale. Sales history can cover one or morelocations, all locations, or a subset of locations selling the products.Time periods can be coincident, overlapping, or non-overlapping fordifferent groupings of products and locations.

Having defined a glossary of relevant terms, the disclosure now turns toa brief introductory description of using retail price optimization togenerate recommended prices for retail products. In retail priceoptimization, a system can use demand modeling to analyze sales historydata to generate a demand model, or demand-model parameters, of consumerdemand for products. The system can then use the model to compute pricesthat maximize revenue, profit, or a combination of revenue and profit.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary retail priceoptimization method 200. For the sake of clarity, this method isdiscussed in terms of an exemplary computing system, such as is shown inFIGS. 1A and 1B. Although specific steps are shown in FIG. 2, in otherembodiments a method can have more or less steps than shown.

The retail price optimization begins when the computing system appliesdemand modeling to sales history data to produce model parameters (202),which can be used in a variety of retail-science analyses, includingforecasting sales, price optimization, markdown, assortment planning,inventory replenishment, promotion planning, etc. In some embodiments,the predictions can be by product, store, time, and promotion status.The sales data can specify a variety of information about one or moreproducts over a sequence of time periods. For example, the sales datacan specify the number of sales per week over a two year time period.

The demand model can be a publicly known demand model or a proprietarydemand model. The model parameters can include economic demandelasticity and baseline sales. The model parameters can also includefactors for seasonality and/or for specific local, such as regional andnational events and holidays. In one or more embodiments, one or moredemand models can have separate parameters to account for promotional orsales events. The sales data can be for a common duration, such as twomonths or two years.

After applying demand modeling to sales data to produce demand-modelparameters (or a demand model), the computing system can use thedemand-model parameters in price generation to produce recommendedprices (204). The recommended prices can be for the decision pricescorresponding to the sales history data. In some embodiments, the pricegeneration can be applied based on the model parameters and otherinputs. In some cases, price generation can include price optimization.The other inputs can include one or more of current prices, boundedbusiness rules, and/or comparative business rules. The recommendedprices can be a single list of prices or list of prices for one or morerevenue-profit weights. As a result, the recommended prices can indicaterevenue-profit goals, ending-number price compliance, common prices forprice families, compliance with bounded business rules, compliance withcomparative business rules, global margin requirements, and/orprice-change requirements. In one or more embodiments, the computingsystem can forecast unit sales from current prices and recommendedprices using the demand-model parameters. The computing system can alsouse the demand-model parameters for markdown analysis, assortmentplanning, inventory replenishment, promotion planning, etc.

After using the model parameters and other inputs in price generation toproduce recommended prices, the computing system can output therecommended prices (206). In some embodiments, the computing system canoutput the forecast unit sales from current prices and recommendedprices. The output can be in one or more forms, including, but notlimited to, rendering the recommended prices on a display and/or storingin one or more databases communicatively coupled to a processor of thecomputing system. The recommended prices can be one set ofdecision-price recommendations or represent several revenue-profitweights.

As described above, price generation is a key step in the process ofgenerating recommended prices. Using model parameters and other inputs,prices can be optimized within each product network to maximize revenue,profit, or a combination of revenue and profit. The result is a set ofrecommended prices in which one or more products can be assigned a pricedifferent than an original price of the product. Such an approach canproduce an ideal set of prices that maximize revenue and/or profit whilecomplying with a set of business rules.

The business rules can govern a single price, such as minimum or maximumprice change, margin, locked prices, competitive prices, ending numbers,and multiples. The business rules can also define relationships betweendifferent products and therefore involve two or more decision prices,such as size, brand, product line, and promotion. One problem thatretailers can face is that business rules are generally not codified andare rarely followed consistently, and thus it can be difficult toarticulate existing business rules or generate new business rules.Additionally, in some cases, a retailer may believe that they know whatrules they are following when pricing products. For example, theretailer may believe that they are using a rule with a competitor indexof 1.0 and private label to national brand ratio of thirty percent(30%). However, in reality the competitor index is 1.1, meaning they areten percent (10%) higher than the competition, and the private label tonational brand ratio is twenty percent (20%). When the retailer providesa rule based on their perceived pricing strategy to a price generationsystem, the system recommends many drastic price changes. This can causesignificant alarm and the retailer may discontinue use of the system dueto a perceived instability.

Existing price information inherently contains industry knowledge andexperience, even if retailers find it difficult to express thatknowledge. The presently disclosed technique for generating businessrules can leverage this fact to address the difficulty of articulatingaccurate business rules by reverse engineering business rule bounds andcoefficients from existing price information. Additionally, because thereverse engineered rules are the rules the retailer is actuallyfollowing rather than what the retailer believes they are doing, a pricegeneration system that incorporates the disclosed business rule reverseengineering technique can generate prices that are more consistent withthe rules and educate the retailer about the currently used rules. Thiscan allow the retailer to slowly adjust the rules to the values theretailer strategically desires.

The business rule reverse engineering technique is particularly usefulfor two categories of business rules: bounded rules and comparativerules. The first category of business rules, bounded business rules,provide constraints on a single decision price. The constraints can beone-sided (i.e., a lower bound or an upper bound) or two-sided (i.e.,upper and lower bounds). There are three special cases of boundedbusiness rules: competitive, margin, and step size, while other boundedrules are general cases of price range and target price.

A competitive bounded rule specifies how strictly a retailer's own priceshould match a competitor's price. In particular, a competitive rulespecifies a ratio between the current price and competitive price. Acompetitive bounded rule provides a range of ratios between currentprice and competitive price. That is, a competitive bounded rule canspecify a lower bound ratio R_(min) and/or an upper bound ratio R_(max)between current price and competitive price. Additionally, a competitivebounded rule can specify a target ratio R_(target) that can be used whenthe current ratio between current price and competitive price is outsidethe specified range of ratios (R_(min), R_(max)). There can be adifferent competitive bounded rule for each competitor, or even the samecompetitor but different geographic or demographic zones and/ordifferent product groupings.

Margin bounded rules specify a required relationship of price P to costC. As described above in the glossary of relevant terms, margin M is thefraction of price that is profit, so M=(P−C)/P. Minimum marginrequirements can depend on price, brand, and/or location. For example,the margin requirements can be lower for more expensive products. Insome cases, there can also be maximum margin requirements. Each marginbounded rule provides a minimum margin R_(min), and possibly maximummargin R_(max), and a target margin R_(target) that can be used when thecurrent margin exceeds a minimum or maximum margin.

Step size rules specify what percentage price change is permissible. Amaximum-change rule specifies a maximum price change permissible. Forexample, a maximum-change rule may specify that a sixteen-ounce (16 oz.)soda cannot increase in price by more than ten percent (10%). Aminimum-change rule specifies a minimum price change permissible. Forexample, a minimum-change rule may specify that a 1-liter of soda mustchange more than half a percent (0.5%) or the price must remainunchanged. A step size bounded rule provides a maximum price changeratio R_(max) between recommended price and current price that cannot beexceeded, even when other rules result in greater change, and a minimumprice change ratio R_(min) below which the recommended price remains atthe current price.

General bounded rules are other bounded rules, such as minimumadvertised price and manufacturer's suggested retail price. Such ruleshave a reference price that can be compared against a current price. Ageneral bounded rule provides a range of ratios around a reference price(R_(min), R_(max)) and a target reference price R_(target) that can beused when the current price falls outside the range of ratios (R_(min),R_(max)).

The second category of business rules, comparative business rules,provide constraints connecting two decision prices within a productnetwork. There are three categories of comparative business rules:measured, named, and Boolean. Measured rules are based on a quantitativefeature of a product, such as size, weight, volume, and/or quantity.Named rules associate value with a non-quantitative feature, such asbrand, product line, and/or color. Boolean rules are a special case ofmeasured or named rules where the value is either yes or no. Forexample, toothpaste with or without fluoride, or floss that is with orwithout wax.

A measured comparative business rule depends on a physical dimension oftwo products, such as physical size, item count, diameter, length,thickness, or thread count. For example, a measured comparative businessrule can specify an incentive parameter to buy the larger-amount productfor each product network.

A named comparative business rule describes a price difference based ona listed, less quantitative feature of a product, such as brand, productline, or differently priced color. For example, a named comparativebusiness rule can specify a parameter for each brand, product line,color, etc. for comparing otherwise-similar products.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method 300 forgenerating business rules through reverse engineering. For the sake ofclarity, this method is discussed in terms of an exemplary computingsystem, such as is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Although specific steps areshown in FIG. 3, in other embodiments a method can have more or lesssteps.

Method 300 begins when the computing system obtains existing priceinformation for a set of products (302). The existing price informationcan include product attributes, competitive prices, reference prices,and current costs. Using the existing price information, the computingsystem can calculate target prices for price point decisions (304). Thecomputing system can then use the calculated target prices as an inputfor reverse engineering the business rules.

The computing system can first reverse engineer the bounded businessrules (306) to generate price bounds for each of the bounded rules. Thecomputing system can reverse engineer the bounded business rules using avariety of techniques, such as the bounded business rules reverseengineering technique in method 400 in FIG. 4, described below. Next thecomputing system can reverse engineer the comparative business rules(308) to generate rule parameters. The computing system can reverseengineer the comparative business rules using a variety of techniques,such as the comparative business rules reverse engineering technique inmethod 500 in FIG. 5, described below. After reverse engineering boththe bounded and comparative business rules, the computing system canoutput the price bounds and the rule parameters (310). The output can bein one or more forms, including, but not limited to, rendering the pricebounds and/or rule parameters on a display and/or storing the values inone or more databases communicatively coupled to a processor in thecomputing system. The generated price bounds and rule parameters can beused as an input to a price generation method to generate recommendedprices.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method 400 for reverseengineering bounded business rules. For the sake of clarity, this methodis discussed in terms of an exemplary computing system, such as is shownin FIGS. 1A and 1B. Although specific steps are shown in FIG. 4, inother embodiments a method can have more or less steps.

Method 400 begins when the computing system selects a bounded businessrule to reverse engineer (402). Bounded business rules can be reverseengineered individually, one at a time. Each bounded business rule isindependent of the others for the purpose of estimating the rulesparameters. Therefore, the bounded business rules can be reverseengineered in any order, or even in parallel. The computing system canuse current prices and target prices, such as those calculated at step304 of method 300 in FIG. 3, to reverse engineer a bounded businessrule.

After selecting a bounded business rule to reverse engineer, thecomputing system can generate R_(max) (404), R_(min) (406), andR_(target) (408) for the bounded rule. The method the computing systemuses to generate R_(max) and R_(min) depends on the type of boundedrule, i.e., competitive, margin, step size, or general. The methods forgenerating R_(max) and R_(min) for the different types of bounded rulesare described in detail below. The computing system can set R_(target)to the target price calculated at step 304 of method 300 in FIG. 3.After generating R_(max), R_(min), and R_(target), the computing systemcan check if there are more bounded rules to reverse engineer (410). Ifso, the computing system can repeat the reverse engineering process byreturning to step 410, otherwise the computing system can resumeprevious processing, which can include resuming processing at step 306of method 300 in FIG. 3.

To generate R_(max) and R_(min) for competitive bounded rules, eachcompetitive price is labeled with the specific competing retailer, thesimilarity between the products, and some measure of how close thestores are to each other. For example, two online retailers areconsidered immediately close to each other, as their “stores” are theInternet. The computing system can then estimate the distribution ofprice ratios using a statistical model based on these inputs. Thestatistical model can have internal coefficients for each individualcompetitor, a coefficient for how similar their product is to theretailer's, and a coefficient for the distance.

For each price affected by competition, the statistical model canproduce a ratio between the retailer's price and a reference price inthe form of a mean μ and a standard deviation σ, where the referenceprice for a competitive rule can be the competitive price. ThenR_(max)=(μ+σ)(1+f), where f is a small factor. Any price above R_(max)can be reset to a target that is the mean-price target μ. Additionally,R_(min)=(μ−σ)(1−f). Any price that is below R_(min) can be reset to themean-price target μ.

A bonus of the competitive rule reverse engineering is that it can beused to analyze competitor behavior as well. By modeling a competitor'scurrent prices as they are affected by the retailer's prices, it ispossible to determine how the competitor is following the retailer. Inparticular, if the standard deviation σ is small, then it can be assumedthat the competitor is paying particularly close attention to theretailer's prices.

To generate R_(max) and R_(min) for margin bounded rules, the pricevariable is expressed as a logarithm log P. The computing system canperform a least-squared-error analysis to determine margin M as a linearfunction of log P. That is, M=a(log P)+b. The computing system candetermine for each product price P a margin mean μ and standarddeviation σ. Then the computing system can statistically measure andreset any margin that is a small factor f lower than one standarddeviation above the mean v=(μ−σ)(1−f) to a target that is the mean μ. SoR_(min)=(C/P)/(1−v) where P is the price and C is the cost. In somecases, a margin bounded rule can also specify a margin maximum. In thiscase, margins above (μ+σ)(1+f) can be reset to the mean-margin target μ.

To generate R_(max) for step-size bounded rules, the computing systemcan find a maximum price change factor C by analyzing the price-changehistory to identify the 90^(th)-percentile c of the change ratio. Thenthe computing system can set the step ranges to C=c+f, where f is asmall forgiveness factor. The computing system can reset any percentageprice change that is greater than C to c, above or below the currentprice. Similarly, to generate R_(min) the computing system can find aminimum price change factor B by analyzing the price-change history toidentify the 10^(th)-percentile b of the change ratio. Then thecomputing system can set the step ranges to B=b−f, where f is a smallforgiveness factor. Any percentage price change less than B can berejected and the recommended price set to the current price.

To generate R_(max) and R_(min) for general bounded rules, the computingsystem analyzes the statistical distribution of P/R, where P is currentprices and R is reference prices, and its mean μ and standard deviationσ. So R_(max)=R(1+μ+σ+f) and R_(min)=R(1+μ−σ−f). Any prices aboveR_(max) and below R_(min) can be reset to the target price 1+μ.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method 500 for reverseengineering comparative business rules. For the sake of clarity, thismethod is discussed in terms of an exemplary computing system, such asis shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Although specific steps are shown in FIG.5, in other embodiments a method can have more or less steps.

Method 500 begins when the computing system selects a comparativebusiness rule to reverse engineer (502). When there are many price pairsfor the first rules on the list that are not affected by the last ruleson the list, comparative business rules can be reverse engineered inorder, one at a time. However, if there are many same-brand,same-product-line price pairs with different sizes, then size is a goodplace to start reverse engineering comparative rules. The computingsystem can use product attributes and current prices to reverse engineera comparative business rule.

The computing system can compare two prices in a network for a rule ifthe prices are the same for all the other rules or if the prices differonly in rules already reverse engineered. Such rules are consideredrule-comparable. In some embodiments, reverse engineering comparativerules can be an iterative process that continues until the computingsystem converges on coefficients for all of the comparative rules. Whenthe computing system compares two rule-comparable prices where somedifferent rules are reverse engineered, the computing system has tofactor in the reverse engineered coefficients. For example, if rule Asays price P is 1.2 times price Q and the computing system is measuringfor rule B, then the computing system will have to compare the pricesP/1.2 and Q. Additionally, the computing system may apply rule B incomparing price P and price Q.

After selecting a comparative business rule to reverse engineer, thecomputing system can generate rule parameters or coefficients (504) forthe comparative rule. The method the computing system uses to generatethe rule parameters depends on the type of comparative rule, i.e.,measured or named. The methods for generating the rule parameters forthe different rule types are described in detail below. After generatingthe rule parameters for the selected comparative rule, the computingsystem can check if there are more comparative rules to reverse engineer(506). If so, the computing system can repeat the reverse engineeringprocess by returning to step 510. Once the computing system determinesthat all comparative rules have been reverse engineered, the computingsystem checks if the results are sufficiently stable (508). In someembodiments, the computing system can determine stability by repeatingthe analysis with new information. Alternatively, the computing systemcan base stability on a statistical confidence measurement. If thecomputing system determines the rules are not stable, the computingsystem can repeat the reverse engineering process by returning to step502, otherwise the computing system can resume previous processing,which can include resuming processing at step 308 of method 300 in FIG.3.

A measured comparative rule describes price tracking over a dimension.For example, a dimension can be encouraging a shopper to buy a largerpackage. The incentive, or rule parameter, can be measured as anexponent γ, such that X-times the size yields X^(γ) the price. Forexample, a ten-ounce (10 oz.) box of Tasty Flakes is $1.89, thetwenty-ounce (20 oz.) box is $2.99, and the forty-ounce (40 oz.) box is$4.89. Each factor of two in size is 1.6 times the price, 2^(0.68)=1.6,so γ=0.68. This indicates that the thirty-ounce (30 oz.) box of TastyFlakes should be $3.99, where the choice of $3.99 over a price like$3.972893 is made in deference to ending-number, price-point rules. Ingeneral,

$\gamma = \frac{{\log \; P_{a}} - {\log \; P_{b}}}{{\log \; S_{a}} - {\log \; S_{b}}}$

where P_(a) and P_(b) are the two prices and S_(a) and S_(b) are the twosizes.

For each network and each pair of rule-comparable prices within thenetwork, the computing system can calculate the γvalues based on sizeand price ratios, and accumulate the totals weighted by the product ofthe revenues. After computing the total for each individual network, thecomputing system can sum the values for the networks to generate a totalnetwork γ. In some cases, a user specified parameter for each networkcan indicate how heavily to weight the overall, all-network γvalues andthe individual network γvalues.

Additionally, the computing system can fit an affine function to theprices and measure a statistical fit. In this case, P=mX+b, where P isthe price and X is the product dimension. This computation can be moreapplicable than the exponent incentive γ for measures not directlydenoting quantity, such as pipe diameter, bolt size, or cable length.

To generate the rule parameters for named comparative rules, thecomputing system can use a least-squared-error fit with a singleconstraint and add a Lagrange multiplier to the least-squared-errorequations.

The computing system collects all of the ratios of rule-comparableprices and weights them by the product of their revenues. The computingsystem can compare two products in the same network when all of theother comparative rules are either the same or already known fromprevious analysis.

Let a_(ij) be the weighted observed price ratios and let w_(ij) be thetotal of the weights, where i and j are rule choices (e.g., brands)where the brands go from 1 to n. Then p_(i) is selected to minimize thesquared differences to minimize

${f(p)} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{n}{w_{ij}\left( {p_{i} - {a_{ij}p_{j}}} \right)}^{2}}}$

subject to a scale constraint

${g(p)} = {{{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{v_{i}p_{i}}} - K} = 0}$

where w_(ii)=0. Without the scale constraint, the optimal solution is toset all of the p_(i) to zero. To get an average value of 1.0, set K=n.

Then a Lagrange multiplier λ can be used as an (n+1) term to minimize

${F\left( {P,\lambda} \right)} = {{{f(p)} + {\lambda \; {g(p)}}} = {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{n}{w_{ij}\left( {p_{i} - {a_{ij}p_{j}}} \right)}^{2}}} + {\lambda \left( {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{v_{i}p_{i}}} - K} \right)}}}$

where (n+1)-vector P is the n-vector p with an extra term for λ.

The solution for the p_(i) values is the solution of MP=B, where P and Bare vectors and M is a square matrix, all in (n+1)-dimensional space.

For the matrix,

$M_{kk} = {{{2{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{n}w_{kj}}} + {2{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{w_{ik}a_{ik}^{2}\mspace{14mu} {for}\mspace{14mu} k}}}} \leq n}$M_(k m) = M_(m k) = −2 w_(k m)a_(k m) − 2 w_(mk)a_(mk)  for  k, m ≤ nM_(k(n + 1)) = M_((n + 1)k) = v_(k)  for  k ≤ nM_((n + 1)(n + 1)) = 0

For the right hand side,

B _(k)=0 for k≦n

B _((n+1)) =K

The solution to these equations can yield values so that the targetratio between brand prices i and j in the same network is P_(i)/P_(j).

The present technology can take the form of hardware, software or bothhardware and software elements. In some implementations, the technologycan be implemented in software, which includes but is not limited tofirmware, resident software, microcode, a Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA), graphics processing unit (GPU), or Application-SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC). In particular, for real-time or nearreal-time use, an FPGA or GPU implementation would be desirable.

Furthermore, portions of the present technology can take the form of acomputer program product comprising program modules accessible fromcomputer-usable or computer-readable medium storing program code for useby or in connection with one or more computers, processors, orinstruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, acomputer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus thatcan contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program foruse by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device. The medium can be non-transitory (e.g., anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system (or apparatus or device)) or transitory (e.g., apropagation medium). Examples of a non-transitory computer-readablemedium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, aremovable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-onlymemory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Currentexamples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory(CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD. Both processors andprogram code for implementing each as aspect of the technology can becentralized or distributed (or a combination thereof) as known to thoseskilled in the art.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. Examples within the scope of the present disclosure may alsoinclude tangible and/or non-transitory computer-readable storage mediafor carrying or having computer-executable instructions or datastructures stored thereon. Such non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia can be any available media that can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer, including the functional design ofany special purpose processor as discussed above. By way of example, andnot limitation, such non-transitory computer-readable media can includeRAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to carry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection canbe properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions. Computer-executable instructions also includeprogram modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,components, data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in thedesign of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other examples of thedisclosure may be practiced in network computing environments with manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. Examples may also be practiced in distributedcomputing environments where tasks are performed by local and remoteprocessing devices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wirelesslinks, or by a combination thereof) through a communications network. Ina distributed computing environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. For example, the principles herein apply not only to asmartphone device but to other devices capable of receivingcommunications such as a laptop computer. Those skilled in the art willreadily recognize various modifications and changes that may be made tothe principles described herein without following the exampleembodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, andwithout departing from the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:obtaining existing price information for a plurality of products;calculating, via a processor, target prices based at least in part onthe existing price information; reverse engineering a set of boundedbusiness rules to generate price bounds for each rule in the set ofbounded business rules, wherein the reverse engineering is based atleast in part on the calculated target prices; and reverse engineering aset of comparative business rules to generate rule parameters for eachrule in the set of comparative business rules, wherein the reverseengineering is based at least in part on the existing price information.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein reverseengineering a set of bounded rules comprises: for each bounded rule inthe set of bounded business rules generating an upper bound valueR_(max), a lower bound value R_(min), and a target value R_(target). 3.The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the bounded rule isa competitive bounded rule, and wherein R_(max)=(μ+σ)(1+f),R_(min)=(μ+σ)(1−f), and R_(target)=μ, and wherein μ is a mean, σ is astandard deviation, and f is a small factor.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 2, wherein the bounded rule is a margin bounded rule,and wherein R_(max)=(μ+σ)(1+f), R_(min)=(C/P)/(1−v), and R_(target)=μ,and wherein P is the price, C is the cost, and f is a small factor. 5.The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the bounded rule isa step-size bounded rule, and wherein R_(max) is C=c+f, wherein C is themaximum price change factor, c is the 90th percentile of a change ratio,and f is a small forgiveness factor, R_(min) is B=b−f, wherein B is theminimum price change factor, b is the 10th percentile of the changeratio, and f is a small forgiveness factor, and R_(target), is currentprice.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein thebounded rule is a general bounded rule, and wherein R_(max)=R(1+μ+σ+f),R_(min)=R(1+μ−σ−f), and R_(target)=1+μ, and wherein P is current prices,R is reference prices, μ is a mean, σ is a standard deviation, and f isa forgiveness factor.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein reverse engineering a set of comparative rules comprises:iteratively generating rule parameters for each comparative rule in theset of comparative rules until the rule parameters are stable.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein iteratively generatingthe rule parameters comprises: performing a number of rounds, the numberof rounds determined dynamically based on stability of the ruleparameters, each round comprising: for each comparative rule in the setof comparative rules, generating rule parameters for the comparativerule, and determining whether the rule parameters are stable.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the comparative rule isa measured comparative rule, and wherein generating the rule parameterscomprises:${{calculating}\mspace{14mu} \gamma} = \frac{{\log \; P_{a}} - {\log \; P_{b}}}{{\log \; S_{a}} - {\log \; S_{b}}}$wherein, P_(a) and P_(b) are the two prices and S_(a) and S_(b) are thetwo sizes.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein thecomparative rule is a named rule, and wherein generating the ruleparameters comprises: using a least-squared-error fit with a singleconstraint; and adding a Lagrange multiplier to the least-squared-errorequations.
 11. A manufacture comprising: a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium; and a computer executable instructionstored on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium which,when executed by a computer device, causes the computing device toperform a method comprising: calculating target prices based at least inpart on existing price information, generating price bounds for a set ofbounded business rules based at least in part on the calculated targetprices, and generating rule parameters for a set of comparative businessrules based at least in part on existing price information.
 13. Themanufacture of claim 11, wherein generating price bounds comprises: foreach bounded rule in the set of bounded business rules generating anupper bound value R_(max), a lower bound value R_(min), and a targetvalue R_(target).
 14. The manufacture of claim 11, wherein generatingrule parameters comprises: iteratively generating rule parameters foreach comparative rule in the set of comparative rules until the ruleparameters are stable, wherein iteratively generating the ruleparameters comprises: performing a number of rounds, the number ofrounds determined dynamically based on stability of the rule parameters,each round comprising: for each comparative rule in the set ofcomparative rules, generating rule parameters for the comparative rule,and determining whether the rule parameters are stable.
 15. Themanufacture of claim 11, wherein the price information comprises atleast one of product attributes, competitive prices, reference prices,or current prices.
 16. The manufacture of claim 11 further comprising:generating recommended prices based at least in part on at least one ofthe generated price bounds or the generated rule parameters.
 17. Asystem comprising: a processor; a computer readable storage mediumstoring instructions for controlling the processor to perform stepscomprising: calculating target prices based at least in part on existingprice information, generating price bounds for a set of bounded businessrules based at least in part on the calculated target prices, whereinthe price bounds include at least one of an upper bound value R_(max), alower bound value R_(min), or a target value R_(target); and generatingrule parameters for a set of comparative business rules based at leastin part on existing price information, wherein generating ruleparameters comprises: iteratively generating rule parameters for eachcomparative rule in the set of comparative rules until the ruleparameters are stable.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein iterativelygenerating the rule parameters comprises: performing a number of rounds,the number of rounds determined dynamically based on stability of therule parameters, each round comprising: for each comparative rule in theset of comparative rules, generating rule parameters for the comparativerule, and determining whether the rule parameters are stable.
 19. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the set of bounded business rules includesat least one of a competitive bounded rule, a margin bounded rule, astep-size bounded rule, or a general bounded rule.
 20. The system ofclaim 17, wherein the set of comparative business rules includes atleast one of a measured comparative rule or a named comparative rule.